BALI – Deputy Minister of Home Affairs John Wempi Wetipo emphasized that the government is always committed to realizing equitable development in Indonesia.
This commitment can be seen from the government’s steps in improving infrastructure in underdeveloped, frontier, and outermost regions.
“And what is no less important is the strengthening carried out in all villages in Indonesia,” said Wempi at the Regional Government Stakeholder Strengthening Meeting in the context of implementing the Village Government and Development Strengthening Program (P3PD) Regional I 2023 at the Vouk Hotel and Suites Ballroom Nusa Dua not long ago.
He said that development in villages has its own challenges. Starting from the challenges of overcoming poverty, health, public consumption, human resources, to facilities and infrastructure.
According to him, with the complexity of the existing problems, development in villages remains one of the right strategies in improving the welfare of the Indonesian people.
Wempi added that development in villages is in line with the mandate of Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages which aims to change the paradigm of village development so that equitable development of cities and villages can be realized.
According to him, the village development carried out by the government has produced positive achievements.
This is like a reduction in the number of very underdeveloped villages and underdeveloped villages. Meanwhile, the number of developing, developed, and independent villages has increased significantly.
“Thanks to the president’s policies, large funds (village funds) were disbursed to Indonesian people, especially in villages. Previously, there had never been village funds like those enjoyed by villages today. This is based on the president’s policy to reduce poverty in villages,” he explained.
Nevertheless, Wempi does not deny that there are still a number of problems occurring in the village, such as misuse of village funds by certain individuals.
This needs to be taken seriously because it will have an impact on the development process in the village.
Moreover, there are still various problems that exist in villages such as poverty, high stunting rates, and other problems that still require an active role from all parties.
“It is hoped that the government’s greater attention to villages can improve services to village communities and reduce inequality between villages and cities,” said Wempi.
“The ever-increasing village fund budget allocation certainly requires the readiness of government officials and village institutions to manage it well, carefully, orderly and responsibly,” he continued.
For this reason, Wempi encourages village officials to increase their capacity in managing and utilizing village funds optimally, especially in the form of village spending.
Moreover, it is known that so far the village shopping process has often not met the basic needs of village communities.
This condition has an impact on the less than optimal growth of productive economic activities, public services, and the ability in fulfilling the basic needs of village communities.
“Speaking of villages, we previously did not have BUMDes. Now, with a lot of village funding assistance from the government, BUMDes can be present to improve the community’s economy, especially in rural areas,” he said. (NEWS ADVERTORIAL)
